Ex-New Castle man accused of molesting, threatening foster daughter

Darrin Reid (jail mug)

NEW CASTLE -- A former New Castle man who impregnated his 15-year-old foster daughter in 2006 now stands accused of repeatedly sexually abusing an 8-year-old girl who had been placed in his care by the state.

Darrin Keith Reid, 42, more recently of Indianapolis, has been charged with child molesting, a Class A felony carrying a standard 30-year prison term, and intimidation, a Class D felony with a standard 18-month sentence.

The most recent foster child to allege abuse by Reid spent six weeks in the defendant's New Castle home in the late summer and early autumn of 2005, along with her two younger siblings.

The girl told police Reid threatened to kill her brother and sister if she told anyone about the assaults.

Arrested Friday, Reid remained in the Henry County jail on Tuesday under a $35,000 bond. He received an Aug. 29 trial date Tuesday in Henry Circuit Court.

According to a report by Stacey Guffey, a Henry County sheriff's investigator, Reid's latest accuser and her siblings were placed by welfare authorities in the Railroad Street home the defendant shared with his wife, Traesha, from mid-September to late October of 2005.

The girl said Reid sexually abused her the "whole time" she was in his care, forcing her to join him in his bedroom, ostensibly to "watch television," and also entered her bedroom at night.

She said she frequently began to cry when Reid fondled her, prompting the foster father to place his hand over her mouth and threaten to kill her siblings, by strangulation or smothering them with a pillow. He also said he would not molest the younger children if she cooperated, the girl said.

"(The girl) told us that (Reid) did threaten her personally by saying he would come and find her," Guffey wrote in his report.

Reid denied the girl's allegations when interviewed on April 21.

His wife told investigators she was unaware such abuse had taken place, but said after her husband's later impregnation of an older foster child and allegations -- unrelated to the Henry County cases -- that he sexually abused still another child, "anything is possible at this point."

After pleading guilty to two counts of sexual misconduct with a minor in 2007, Reid was placed on probation for five years, including three years on electronic home detention.

In accepting a plea agreement in that case, Judge Mary Willis noted that Reid wasn't well suited for prison due to his severe vision problems.

Reid in April told investigator Guffey that he has one prosthetic eye and limited vision in the other eye.

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